Apple Draws A Line In The Sand

Chronogical Blog Entries:

Date: Wed, 30 Mar 2016 01:41:27 +1100

As expected there have been several articles in the New York Times Bits
column about the dispute between Apple and the FBI regarding the the iPhone
that belonged to the San Bernadino gunman.

In the March 10th edition, Nick Wingfield and Mike Isaac report a
remarkable level of support for Apple which is involved in a dispute with the
US Government over privacy.

The list includes Dropbox, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Snapchat and
Yahoo. Not often that these companies would say anything nice about Apple. But
they are set to signed briefs in support of Apple Generally tech companies
consider the stakes to high to sit on the sidelines. If the FBI wins this
case, it sets a dangerous new precedent for security and privacy of electronic
data.

In another article in the March 13th issues of Bits by Michael Shear,
David Sanger and Katie Benner, the arguments were summarised neatly. While
President Obama gave rather luke-warm support to the FBI, it seemed that there
was a growing sense of unease about the implications of this push to hack the
iPhone and weaken Apple's security.

Then on March 18th, the editorial for Bits declared that even if the FBI
won its dispute, Apple employees might still be able to argue that they had
the legal right to refuse to comply with the request when ordered to do so.

It was beginning to seem as if the FBI and the other agencies that would
like to establish the landmark precedent may have over-reached in their quest
for constant and unrelenting surveillance.

Then on Monday, it was reported that the case had been postponed, as the
FBI announced that they had found an alternative way into the phone.

Finally on the following week there was an announcement (as reported by
Bits on Tuesday) that the DOJ had withdrawn the case. And everyone was left
wondering what all the fuss had been about in the first place? Did they manage
to hack the iPhone? Did the Feds go on a fishing expedtion and then abandon it
when they realised they were losing the publicity contest?